Higher Degree by Research Scholarships

The Commonwealth Government’s Research Training Program (RTP) provides funding to universities to support the research training of both domestic and international higher degree research (HDR) candidates.

The funding provided through the RTP offers the provision for universities to administer and award a number of scholarships known as Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarships.

Australian Government RTP Stipend Scholarships are awarded to students of exceptional research potential to undertake a HDR at an Australian university. The scholarships are provided to assist with general living costs.

The funding provided by the Commonwealth enables Charles Darwin University to provide tuition fee offsets to domestic candidates commencing or enrolled in HDR programs for which Australian Government RTP support is available.

The support provided through the Australian Government RTP Domestic Fee Offset replaces the Commonwealth Government’s Research Training Scheme (RTS).

Australian Government RTP eligibility requirements:

To be eligible for a RTP scholarship, a student must be a domestic student or an overseas student enrolled in an accredited HDR course of study at an Australian Higher Education Provider (HEP);

To be eligible for a RTP stipend a student must not be receiving income from another source to support that student's general living costs while undertaking their course of study if that income is greater than 75% of that student's RTP stipend rate. Income unrelated to the student's course of study or income received for the student's course of study but not for the purpose of supporting general living costs is not taken into account.

To be eligible for a RTP fee offset, a student must not be receiving an equivalent award or scholarship from the Australian Government designed to offset HDR tuition fees.

The University Research Training Scheme (URTS) Fee Offset is offered to international HDR candidates of exceptional research potential commencing or enrolling in a HDR program who have been awarded an Australian Government RTP Stipend Scholarship. The URTS Fee Offset is not a Commonwealth scholarship.

The fee offset provided may fully or partially remove the liability of the HDR candidate to pay program tuition fees for the year in which it is awarded.

International HDR candidates who are not awarded an Australian Government RTP Stipend can still apply for a URTS Fee Offset which is awarded through a competitive process.

Eligibility requirements:

Overseas students enrolled in a HDR at CDU may apply for a URTS fee offset;

Students awarded a URTS fee offset must not be receiving an equivalent award or scholarship from the Australian Government designed to offset HDR tuition fees.